I Know the Secret to Surpass Level 100

Elliot's body fell to the ground with the sword still latched inside his chest. His eyes blurred as it slolwy lost its life, making Malice grin from ear to ear.

She succeeded. The prophecy was broken, and she conquered the enemy that was supposed to have her head.

The woman grinned and raised her head, only to see the black skies slowly brighten. Without warning, a rain of multi-colored light barraged at her. Malice groaned, conjuring a shield that protected her.

"What is this?!" Malice yelled. "Who are you?"

"Was I too late?"

An old man spoke. The black clouds cleared, revealing Francoise riding a black pegasus. He raised his hand and summoned another round of the cosmic attack, aiming at Malice without rest.

"Take him!" Francoise ordered.

Sun appeared beside Elliot. He took the latter's lifeless body in his arms before morphing into a winged snake and flying above his brother to avoid Malice's gaze.

The queen of Hell wouldn't allow Elliot's body to be taken away. She braced through the endless rain of cosmic rays and conjured a dark green spear that she held with her hand. Raising her arm behind her, Malice aimed at the white snake a hundred meters above her.

"Die you meddling rat!" Malice grunted, firing her spear. She was directly attacking Sun but the old man would not allow something to happen to him.

"As if I'd let you reach my boy!" Francoise summoned an orb made of his cosmic energy, enclosing them inside it as the spear splattered on its surface. "You've grown stronger, Malice. But you don't have to do this anymore. Me being here only meant one thing."

Malice narrowed her eyes, trying do decipher what the old man was saying. "You're bluffing. I'm too strong for any of you and you know that. If you give him back to me, then I'll overlook this and let you live— even after I become an Absolute. But if you keep being a senile old man and continue to keep him, then I will not rest until I give you the most painful death you have ever known."

Francoise shook his head, smirking. "You should have noticed it by now. The irregularities in Elliot's growth. How he keeps getting stronger, but his body remained the same. How his mana pool became great but his powers remaining to be like how it was when he first started."

Francoise took Elliot's body. He pulled the sword out of his chest and grabbed Elliot's arm. He muttered something under his breath and tapped on Elliot's wrist. There, a trail of light appeared. It ran through Elliot's wrist, wrapping it and showing a tattoo that was made of cosmic energy.

"You..." Malice gulped. "You mean you did that to him? Why? To deceive me?"

"To protect him," Francoise said. He pulled the tattoo as if it was only a string and used his fingers to cut it. "And for the prophecy to happen."

Elliot's eyes suddenly opened, but he wasn't at the battlefield. He sat up to see the prophecy sitting on the chair, watching him. He gulped and shook his head, realizing that it wasn't the same scenery that he was just a couple of minutes ago.

He was now in a bright, sunny fields filled with grass and yellow flowers. He smiled at the woman who placed her cup on the table. "It's nice to see you again."

"But it was so soon," Elliot chuckled. "I think I died earlier. My chest was pierced with a sword. I don't know how I could recover from that."

"And you didn't know what happened after that?" the woman asked. She waved her hand to summon the cup of tea and a chair for Elliot. The boy sat on the chair and placed his elbows on the table while his hands covered his face. "I don't think you know, huh."

Elliot shook his head. "I think the Supreme Dragon Emperor's Crest Immunity is still on cooldown. I saw myself slowly losing consciousness before I got here."

"And?" the woman probed. "Do you notice anything else?"

Elliot looked around, now realizing that he wasn't at the eternal darkness that they talked at before. "It's bright now. What happened?"

"I closed the prophecy, remember?" the woman asked. "That may mean that we're not at the prophecy anymore, we're at a different place."

Elliot nodded, pursing his lips. "Yeah, but where is this? I think it's familiar, but I can't pinpoint exactly where it was that I've been here."

"We're currently inside you, Elliot," the woman said. "As a prophecy who has established its own thoughts and decisions, I decided to cling into you for a few more hours just so that I could see this moment. I have been waiting for over fifteen years for this to happen, and now I can see it finally."

"Over fifteen years. Where did you get the energy for that?" Elliot chuckled. "You're a prophecy but you also burn mana, how did you replenish that?"

The prophecy smirked. "From the people who saw me. I take a portion of their power and make it my own. I use that energy to continue living."

Elliot nodded. "So, what happens now? I died without seeing the man that you mentioned."

"Elliot, you're with him now," the woman said. "I see that he's performing his duty, so now I have to ask you. Why do you want to defeat Malice?"

"For justice," Elliot said confidently while standing. His posture straightened and his face got serious, the overall mood of his mana has raised. "Malice has done more injustice than I can count. Not just to me, but to other people and especially her daughters. She made everyone's lives suffer and for that I cannot possibly forgive her."

Elliot felt a pang in his head. He sat back down, feeling the surge of power enter his body. "What is happening?"

"You're waking up," the woman said. "The man has arrived and he fulfilled his mission."

"But I don't think I'm ready to face Malice again so soon," Elliot confessed, but then he took it back. "No. This is my last chance to defeat her. I am more than ready."

The woman smiled, seemingly satisfied with Elliot's answer. "Then I guess now you're more than ready to actually take Malice into a fight. You worked hard for this moment, Elliot. Now it's your time to show her how everything means to you."

"I'll definitely show her," Elliot smirked. "And if you can keep on living, you can keep on watching me."

"I will," the woman smiled as Elliot's body completely disappeared.

A tall man with dark red hair stepped out of the darkness. He sat on the chair that Elliot sat on as he faced the woman.

"And you fulfilled your own mission. I thank you for your service," the man said. A strong wind blew, making him cover his eyes as his other hand held on to his harlequin-patterned jacket that slung over his shoulders. "You and the daughters can rest in peace now."

The woman smiled as a tear fell from her eye. She looked up to the blue skies and nodded. "I'll just hang around for a bit more. When Malice dies, then I can peacefully cross "